Tuesday, 28 February 2012

New climate change study: Big California beaches are the winners in 2112

Researchers at Duke University´sNicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions have used models to simulate the effects of climate change on beach size, beach attendance and beach-goer spending at 51 public beaches in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

The researcher have found that small beaches are the losers if there is a 1-meter rise in the sea level a hundred years from now:

“We found, as relatively small beaches shrink more due to sea level rise, people will stop visiting them, opting for wider beaches.”

Fortunately the researchers have made some exciting new findings about how small beaches can fight back - a hundred years from now:

Adding lifeguards, convenient parking and improving water quality could help make up for some of the lost sand.

We should probably be grateful that the Duke modellers at least seem to think that there still are people and cars around in the year 2112. Maybe global warming will not after all cause the kind of apocalypse that Gore and his likes are saying if you you can beat it with a couple of lifeguards and more convenient parking?